


The Brother Trap

by Ember_Hinote, WyrdWeaver



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Written pre-season 7, communications specialist Lance, not cannon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-08 20:04:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15937316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ember_Hinote/pseuds/Ember_Hinote, https://archiveofourown.org/users/WyrdWeaver/pseuds/WyrdWeaver
Summary: A first date is all they could ever want if only either of them could get around to asking. Sometimes Shiro cannot help but be thankful that Keith's his brother. Keith's infatuation with a particular communications specialist set him off on this wild ride so now he's gotta keep Adam happy while hoping that Keith doesn't do to much damage to a certain Lance McClain.





	The Brother Trap

He wonders how exactly he was blessed to have the second best pilot at the Garrison as his co-pilot? Honestly, he usually has awful luck but it looks like something was smiling down on him when he was partnered with Adam Westphalia.

“Shiro, look alive!” whispers Adam as he looks over the new Garrison students, as if looking for someone. “Gotta show these newbies what greatness looks like.”

“Oh,” Shiro quickly turns his attention back to crowd of first year students. “Right.”

Adam chuckles to himself before looking back at the students. “No problem.”

 _‘Nice going there Takashi’_ thinks Shiro as he begins to scan the crowd of students in front of him. They are currently divided up by their path of study: pilots, communications specialists, and engineers. He quickly locates the person that he was a looking for, an angry looking teen by the name of Keith Kogane, otherwise known as his younger brother. Though they were not brothers by blood, Shiro had taken to the young teen and chosen to support him after learning about his rough beginnings. Everybody needed someone who believed in them in life and he wanted to be that person for Keith.

But to Shiro’s surprise, Keith is looking less angry than he usually is and is blatantly staring at someone else in the crowd. So being the ridiculous older brother that he is, Shiro decides to take a look at what possibly could have caught Keith’s attention. To his surprise, he spots a boy standing in the communications specialist group that reminds him of his own co-pilot but lacking glasses with slightly lighter skin and bright blue eyes. Keith seemed entirely enamored by this young man and Shiro could not help but inwardly chuckle at that. Oh Keith, the semester had just begun and he already had a crush though this gives him enough notice to plan how he will be teasing his younger brother about this later.

Shiro then turns his attention to the other people he is standing with. To his right was his best friend, Matt Holt, his team’s communications specialist and resident tech genius who often had way too much free time on his hands. Beside Matt was their engineer who was pretty decent at what they did but often skipped their team meetings for whatever reason. The only honest reason that Shiro hadn’t removed them from the team was because of Matt and Adam, though Adam had been noted to say that he wouldn’t be opposed to seeing them gone either.

Speaking of Adam, his co-pilot was standing to his left and seemed to have found who he had been looking for and was now smiling proudly. Shiro made note to ask his teammate about this later. He is aware that on his team, Matt has a younger sister by the name of Katie who he often proudly boasted about. There was hardly a week that went by that Matt did not mention someone that his little sister had done or he taught her to do. Apparently the little girl wanted to be a pilot and if she needed pointers, Shiro knew that between him and Adam, there would be plenty of advice they could give. Then he had Keith to look out for in terms of discipline and just affection. But Shiro has never heard Adam mention anything about a younger sibling before so he wonders who exactly could make Adam so proud?

A cold shiver ran up Shiro’s spine that he tried to suppress at the very thought of someone he would have to try to convince that he would be a good match for Adam. He knew that Adam came from a tight knit family but he did was not sure if Adam had siblings for Shiro to try and win over. That was going to be easier said than done with how Keith could be but Shiro can only pray that Keith will be on his best behavior that day.

“Hey Shiro,” whispers Adam, “I know we’re Garrison pilots but try not to look so spacey.”

“Uh, what?”

“Yeah,” adds Matt, “some of the students might stop hero worshipping our team if you look like a dork.”

“That’s not what I meant Matt.”

“That’s what you implied Adam.”

Shiro hears Adam sigh when Matt says that can’t help but take a slight peek over at his friend and co-pilot. A little peek wouldn’t hurt, right? So long as Matt didn’t catch him full on staring at Adam. Adam with his beautiful bronze skin and mocha colored locks. Adam with his chocolate colored eyes that were carefully shielded by the delicate black metal frames of his glasses .Those glasses did the world a service by protecting everybody from the full on beauty of Adam’s eyes. One could simply drown in those wonderful pools of melted milk chocolate.

A hard elbow to his ribs quickly draws him out of his train of thought and he looks over to see Matt giving him a warning glare. Shiro inwardly sighs at being caught by his best friend, maybe that wasn’t as good of an idea as he thought.

* * *

Aside from the usual of his brother acting like an idiot in front of everybody, the welcoming lecture wasn’t too bad. Though he cannot say that most of his classmates were paying attention to his brother’s antics hopefully, Shiro can be a complete loser some days and Keith regrets stealing his car.

Can Shiro just not stare openly at Adam for like two seconds? Though Keith has never met Adam in person before, he knows exactly who Adam is based off everything that Shiro has said about the guy but it is arguable that the words “handsome” and “greatest person ever” can be efficiently used to describe someone. Keith knows that Adam is Shiro’s co-pilot and based off how officers usually stand, the co-pilot stood to the left of the main pilot. Keith has to admit that though Adam is rather attractive, he is a little underwhelmed by the bespectacled man’s appearance. Adam’s not nearly as attractive as Shiro described him to be leaving Keith wanting more.

Luckily he does find more; standing in the crowd amongst the communications specialists, Keith finds someone who is _truly_ worth his attention. The guy is long and a little lanky but Keith is fine with that, it just gives him the opportunity to be the perfect Prince Charming to sweep him off his feet. Oh he can imagine it now, the blue eyed boy in danger of bullies and Keith swooping in on a hovercycle with his knife drawn like a handsome prince. Okay maybe not _exactly_ like that but at least the part about Keith swooping in on a hovercycle to rescue the boy of his affections would be nice. The boy has the most beautiful ocean blue eyes that Keith has ever seen with smooth tanned, flawless skin.

Once the lecture was over, Keith begins to make his way over to the other boy in order to try and talk to him. He is pretty sure that he will be more successful than Shiro in introducing himself to a cute boy because apparently Shiro had told Adam that he sucked a piloting when they first met. Yeah, not the best thing to say when someone’s trying to become a pilot and it is your first day of class and you want to introduce yourself as their significant other. Keith knows that he will be better than Shiro in this regard because this guy’s a communications specialist and Keith is a pilot. Already he is better than Shiro because he cannot insult this guy’s piloting ability.

“…With your skills, you’re practically a Tailor,” comments a girl near the blue eyed guy.

“Of course he’s a tailor,” scoffs another voice. “With a family like his, he’d have to be.”

Huh…so his name was Taylor? That saves Keith some time in trying to introduce himself to the guy. He now knows his name so it makes life a little easier. Soon without realizing it, Keith is right in front of Taylor. Keith’s mouth suddenly goes dry and every thought goes flying out the window as he looks directly into Taylor’s eyes.

“Uh, can I help you?” asks Taylor.

Quick! Keith! Say something cool!

“I guess you learn to make yourself heard in a family as large as yours.”

Nailed it.

“Excuse me?”

…Maybe not….

* * *

Lance honestly cannot believe the absolute nerve of this guy. He’s heard the whispers of the other students who could not say the insults to his face and every single one of them hurt. Sure there are those who enjoy his presence and are starting to become pretty good acquaintances but what resonate with him are the comments he wishes he can ignore. Lance has only been at the Garrison for about a week, was tested, and now placed as a communications specialist but he’s already stayed the night at Adam’s apartment five times. Not that Adam has told him that he could not stay at his apartment but Lance just does not want to impose himself on Adam because the fighter pilot was busy enough already that he should not have to worry about Lance’s well being on top of all of that.

He does not understand it at all. He was just standing there, minding his own business, and admiring Adam’s teammate when this guy with a mullet of all things walks up to him and makes a comment about his family.

“W-Wait,” begins the guy.

“Look,” says Lance getting into the taller guy’s face, “How about you just shut up and leave me alone? Though I have to give you props for at least saying it to my face, can you just leave me alone?”

“B-But-”

“Don’t but me,” hisses Lance, “Just leave me alone!”

With that, Lances turns away from the mullet haired boy and looks back over to the senior officers standing at the front of the room with the commander. He briefly makes eye contact with Adam who gives him a small look of concern. Lance quickly looks away from Adam, not wanting the older guy to go about deciphering his thoughts again. So he diverts his attention back to Adam’s handsome teammate.

Based off everything he’s read about Adam’s team, the guy’s name is Matthew Holt and he’s the son of Drs. Samuel and Colleen Holt. He is a communications specialist as well as and a little younger than Adam but quickly rose in ranks due to his intellect. He has messy cut light brown hair and mischievous brown eyes that were unfortunately hidden behind large round glasses that he made work. He had always been curious about Matt ever since Adam had shown him a picture of his flight team over dinner when Lance was in middle school. Though they have never truly met in person, based off everything he’s heard from Adam, he is sure that Matt is probably an amazing person.

“McClain right?” The voice behind his is unfamiliar and Lance quickly turns around and his breath is caught in his throat. Standing there is the object of his affections, Matthew Holt.

“Yeah,” replies Lance quickly as his back straightens. He can feel himself blushing as he looks up at Matt. “I-I-I mean yes, sir!”

Matt laughs at him and his blush burns. “At ease, dude. No need to be formal, save that for Officers Westphalia and Shirogane, with them you have to be formal.”

“Oh.”

“Hey,” Matt claps him on the back, “It’s cool.” Matt soon leans in close to his ear and Lance’s heart begins to thunder in his chest. He’s afraid that Matt might hear it at this point with how close he is. “Just between you and me, I saw your scores on the exam. You were in first place. Keep it up and _any team_ will be lucky to have you.”

“You think?” asks Lance nervously.

Matt pulls back and chuckles. “Of course! With any luck, you’ll probably be matched with Shiro’s little brother since he ranked first for the fighter pilots and the best engineer.” Matt begins to make his way back over to where Adam and Shiro stood. “Anyways, best of luck McClain! I can’t wait to see what you can do.”

Lance could die of happiness.

* * *

Great.

Just great.

“Seriously Matt?”

Matt chuckles back at him. “What did I do this time Adam?”

“What was that all about?” Adam goes to adjust his glasses as they were beginning to slide down the bridge of his nose.

Matt offers him a mischievous smile. Oh no. That’s never a good sign. Usually that means that Matt and Shiro have done something or Matt’s done something and Adam needs to quickly find the problem and do damage control before things go quickly out of hand.

“It’s nothing,” says Matt, “but one of your fighter pilots upset a fellow Comm. Spec and that’s not cool so I had to go over there and calm him down.”

“Really?” asks Adam, feigning his lack of knowledge. “Who?”

Adam already knows who and he is fully prepared to talk to Shiro about this because that was simply inexcusable. He knows that he should not show any favoritism towards any student but this was Lance! His little cousin that he used to – and still does – take on pulse racing trips on his hoverbike. Lance is practically his little brother with how often he was over at the McClain house as a child and Adam was sure that he helped influence Lance’s decision to attend the Galaxy Garrison, aside from Shiro being Shiro. Besides, Veronica had also threatened him within an inch of his life if Lance was every hurt while at the Garrison and under his supervision and if there was anybody that Adam did not want to get in trouble with, it was her.

But speaking of Shiro, Adam knows that the mullet haired brat that is the same kid that Shiro’s been talking about for the past two months. He does not want to be too mad with Shiro but the fact that Shiro was vouching for this kid made it a little unavoidable.

Stupid Shiro and his beautiful, soulful grey eyes and full kissable lips and his chiseled cheeks for making things difficult for Adam because of his good looks but troublesome charge. Shiro with is soft raven colored hair and his bad boy undercut. Shiro with his firm muscles, high charisma, his wit, and his piloting talents; how the hell did someone like Takashi Shirogane actually exist outside of fiction again? Adam cannot help but feel wishful for the days where Shiro had been his rival and not his friend and teammate again. Those days were so much simpler and at least he was not falling for the guy back then. Or at least, so he thought.

“Keith Kogane,” replies Matt, “he was teasing Lance McClain and as the best Comm. Spec here, can’t have that happen.”

“Thank you for mitigating the situation Matt,” sighs Adam as he offers his friend and teammate a small smile. “I’ll handle it from here.”

Unlike with Shiro and Keith, Adam plans to be a lot more discreet about his relationship with Lance. Though he knows that his younger brother will not do anything to damage his name or reputation, he just wants to keep that precaution in case of anything. But in the worst case scenario, Adam would be more than willing to use his position to bail Lance out just as Shiro has done with Keith.

“Hey Shiro,” he says placing his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Can I talk to you?”

Shiro quickly spins around and shoots him a thousand watt smile. “Sure, what’s up?”

“In the hallway,” adds Adam as he begins to drag him out.

“A-Alright?”

The two men quickly make their way into the empty hallway and Adam waits until the door is fully closed behind them before they start talking. He wants the least amount of ears listening to their conversation as possible.

* * *

“So what’s bothering you, Adam?” he asks curiously. He understands that between the two of them, Adam is usually the more professional one and so it is not unlike Adam to drag him out to the hall if he wanted to have a conversation about a student. The only difference now was that class was still in session for about another ten minutes.

Adam gives him a stern look. Oh no. That’s not good.

“It’s about Keith,” begins Adam and a heavy weight drops into Shiro’s stomach. Oh no. How was Shiro supposed to ask Adam out now if Adam didn’t like his little brother? This wasn’t good. “Matt told me that he had to handle a small situation between Keith and Lance McClain.”

“Oh no,” groans Shiro as he begins to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Don’t worry; I’ll take care of Keith.”

“I hope that you do,” replies Adam, his tone slightly clipped causing Shiro to look at the object of his affection curiously. Why did Adam’s tone become so short with him? Usually he was the more patient once between the two of them.

“Did I do something wrong?” he asks.

Adam frowns back at him in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“You were short with me,” replies Shiro simply. “And you’re usually never that short with me.”

“I just want to make it clear, Shiro,” says Adam with finality, “Make sure that your brother does not do anything to hurt anyone else emotionally, got it?”

Shiro sighs, “I’ll do my best.”

He saves the conversation with Keith until school is over and they are riding back to his apartment for the evening. Keith is helping him make dinner when he decides to bring up his conversation with Adam from earlier.

“So I heard from Adam that you and another student had a little argument,” begins Shiro.

“I didn’t mean to offend him,” answers Keith quickly as he begins to dice garlic, the kid was good with a knife. “I just told him that he was a good Comm. Spec probably because he comes from a large family. Well, at least it is rumored that he comes from a large family.” Keith looks away from him. “Besides, how did he know? Matt was the one to talk to Taylor.”

Shiro looks over at Keith in confusion. He was pretty sure that Adam had said the kid’s name was McClain and the only McClain on the roster was a Lance McClain. So how did Keith possibly find a Taylor in the class?

Unless…. Shiro had heard the rumors going about the new cadets that Lance McClain was a very talented Comm. Spec and could weave the communication lines like a tailor. Suddenly everything clicks to Shiro and it begins to make sense what possibly happened with Keith. Unfortunately his brother had a habit of taking things literally and so he must have heard the tailor line and thought that it must have been Lance’s name. Though he knows that he probably should correct Keith about his mistake, he cannot help but find it a little amusing. It wasn’t like it was going to do anymore harm.

“Why are you laughing Shiro?”

* * *

No.

Freaking.

Way.

Three months had passed since his first confrontation with Taylor and his fail at complementing the other boy. But now, as he looks at the assigned squads for the new semester, he finds out that the Comm. Spec for his team is someone by the name of Lance McClain. He’s heard that McClain is the best Comm. Spec in their year so it only made sense that they were put into the same team, the only downside was that Keith did not get the best engineer, Tsuyoshi Garret. Oh well, he’ll make do with whatever engineer that they got teamed up with just like Shiro does.

But when it came time to actually meet his team in person, standing in front of him was Taylor.

“Oh,” says Taylor dully as he looks over at Keith, “it’s you.”

“What does that mean?” asks Keith in frustration.

“But I _suppose_ ,” drawls Taylor as he holds out his hand to him, “Since we’re on a team together, I might as well be nice to you. The name’s Lance, Lance McClain and I’ll be your Comm. Spec, Fly Boy.”

Keith looks at Taylor-no, _Lance_ in surprise as he quickly takes Lance’s hand and shakes it. Oh gosh, he’s actually shaking hands with him. Keith hopes that his palms aren’t sweaty. Maybe this is why Shiro is always wearing gloves around Adam? To make sure that Adam isn’t grossed out by Shiro’s palm sweat. He’ll just have to convince Shiro that he needs gloves too. That’ll be simple enough.

“Keith Kogane,” he answers with a small smile. “Can’t wait to start working with you.”

Lance nods and let go of his hand to his disappointment. He cannot help but feel a little disappointed by this as he could probably hold on to Lance’s hand all day if allowed.

“So,” begins Lance as they wait on their engineer, “Is it true that you and Shiro are brothers?”

Keith looks away from Lance and over at said man. Shiro and his team were there that day in order to help the teams sort themselves out before going in for a run of the team simulation. Shiro catches him staring and quickly shoots him a smile and waves back at Keith who quickly looks back to Lance who is also looking at one of the senior officers, Matt Holt.

“Shiro’s the only who actually believes in me,” answers Keith, “When the teacher said that I was nothing but trouble, Shiro was the only one to vouch for me to get in here. Even though we haven’t been together long, he’s been more family to me than anyone has for the past eight years.”

A soft “oh” escapes Lance and Keith wants nothing more than to disappear from sight. He cannot believe that he just spilled his soul to Lance like that. Why was it so easy to say things like that to Lance when even the thought of touching his hand was hard enough?

“That’s nice,” adds Lance after a while before placing his hand on Keith’s shoulder. Keith goes stiff under Lance’s touch. Abort! Abort! “It must be nice to be able to act like family all the time while here.”

Wait. What?

“Hmm?” hums Keith.

“My family’s all the way back in Cuba,” explains Lance, “and though my cousin, though he’s practically my older brother, is here too, he’s always saying that we should keep it strictly professional here.” Lance sighs. “So it must be nice to have that family all the time. Not to say that our situations are similar because they’re not-”

“Lance,” Keith’s mind is now freaking out. Why is he talking now?

“Huh?”

“We might have just become a team but I’ll always have your back,” says Keith resolutely. This was the first step in establishing a relationship right? “From now on, we’ve got each other.”

Oh god, he hopes that’s not too cheesy. Keith wanted to curl up in a ball and die because of the statement but once he sees Lance finally processing the words that feeling quickly fades away. A look of pure happiness blooms across Lance’s face and the next thing Keith knows he’s wrapped up in a hug with Lance McClain.

“Thanks Keith!”

Nailed it.

* * *

What does Keith Kogane think he’s doing? Why is Lance hugging Keith?  Why is Lance even touching Keith? Adam does not approve of this at all but right now, he’s at work and he has to be a professional about it. The boys were not arguing so at least they had that going.

“Oh how cute,” comments Shiro standing beside him. His elbow is propped up on Adam’s shoulder and he’s leaning on him. Oh god, Shiro was so close. “They’re getting along!”

Adam lets out a sigh. “I suppose that’s better than the alternative.”

Shiro nods. “Think that they’ll make a good team?”

Adam lets a prideful smirk sneak out. “Of course they will. Lance will be giving Matt a run for his money in no time.”

“Lance, huh?” comments Shiro as he looks at Adam curiously. Oh no. “You don’t usually refer to students by their first name or causally either.”

“It’s nothing,” says Adam quickly. “I’ve just tutored him a lot last semester.”

“Uh huh,” hums Shiro, “yup.” He pops the “p” on the word before giving Adam another look. “Funny that a Comm. Spec would go to a fighter pilot for tutoring on classes, if I remember correctly, younger students usually go to their seniors of the same classification.”

“It’s just intro classes,” argues Adam back as he shoots Shiro a glare. “And that might be the norm but not the rules, Shiro.”

“Hey love birds!” call Matt causing them to look over at their own Comm. Spec, “The simulations runs are about to start.”

They nod and quickly begin to make their way over to watch and grade when the words finally hit Adam. Matt had called him and Shiro “love birds.” Oh god, why Matt?!? Adam knew that he should really be paying attention to the simulator but right now he was internally screaming.

 _‘Oh come on Adam! You’re supposed to be a functional gay, not a disaster gay. Lance looks up to you and with how many disaster-insert sexuality-here present at the Garrison, you have to teach him to at least be a semi-functional bi._ ’ But how can he possibly teach his little brother how to be semi-functional if he himself is not functional?

“Uh, Adam?” Adam quickly snaps out of his thoughts as he feels a tap on his shoulder. Look over at him is Shiro. Shit. “You okay there?”

“Yeah,” replies Adam quickly as he quickly regains his composure. “Sorry, a lot on my mind, what happened?”

“Well you missed like almost all the teams with that internal dilemma of yours,” comments Shiro. Adam can see the concern evident in his eyes. “Are you okay? You usually don’t get lost in thought like that.”

“Sorry about that,” says Adam again, “I’m fine, don’t worry about it.”

Luckily he is able to stay mentally present when it is Lance’s turn at the simulator with his team. He is proud when he sees that they already have great chemistry with each other and is practically beaming when pulls off some difficult comm. Spec maneuvers. Since they are the last team to go and the rest of the class has already been dismissed, Adam decides to allow himself to show _a little_ favoritism after they finish.

Once the three get out and their score is revealed Adam can hear Matt let out a long whistle in the background. It is pretty high and getting up there with how their team usually performs in the simulator. It looks like Lance’s team will be the next stars in the Garrison after all. But nothing is fully revealed until the engineer leaves leaving Keith and Lance with him, Shiro, and Matt since their engineer had also left not too long after. Shiro pats Keith on the shoulder and gives him a playful hair ruffle.

“Good job there kiddo,” chuckles Shiro to Keith.

“Thanks Shiro,” says Keith with a smile.

“Adam!” Adam turns around quickly enough and allows for a wide smile to form on his face as he kneels down slightly and opens his arms for Lance to run into. When they make contact he picks up his younger brother and swings him around proudly. “You saw all that right! You saw it right!”

“Of course I saw, Lance,” says Adam proudly, “Matt was the one grading you on your performance and I couldn’t be more proud of you, little brother!”

“Wait, what?” Adam quickly stops spinning them around and they look over to see Shiro and Keith staring at them.

“That’s your brother?” says Keith in surprise.

“I didn’t know you had a sibling,” says Shiro.

“Wow you two are oblivious,” comments Matt as he side eyes Shiro and Keith.

* * *

He is very surprised that Shiro did not assume that earlier in all honesty. Every time Adam and Lance are in the same room, Adam’s always a little _extra_ professional, as if he were trying to hide or compensate for something. But then again, Matt’s Shiro’s best friend and he knew that Shiro can be a bit oblivious to a lot of things unless they were spelled out in front of him.

Matt knew that if wanted to get to Lance one day, he thought that Adam would be a bit of a hurdle in some way, shape, or form. But to know that Adam’s relationship with Lance was that of older brother, well, things just got slightly more interesting.

* * *

Adam is Lance’s older brother.

Shiro is his older brother.

Shiro has a crush on Lance’s older brother while he has a crush on Lance.

Well isn’t this a bit of a mess? But Keith does have one thing going for him; he’s been able to score more with Lance than Shiro has with Adam. Lance is already completely comfortable around him and it’s great for their teamwork. They study together as well and sometimes – if he’s been extra good – Shiro will let them into the simulator to practice after hours. Adam only half chews Shiro out because of it but it’s rare that Adam actually catches them doing this. But the few times that Adam does catch them, they usually get to see Shiro and Adam fly together in a demonstration and those are always amazing.

Keith cannot help but wonder what it would be like if Lance was a pilot instead of comm. Spec. Then maybe they could be co-pilots much like how Shiro and Adam were but better since they’d actually be a thing unlike how their older brothers were constantly dancing around each other in that regard. To Keith it would be a dream come true but he guesses that having Lance as his comm. Spec is just as a good.

But there was just one problem with him and Lance.

Lance did not like him in a romantic sense.

While Shiro was constantly teasing him about his puppy eyes to Lance, he can see that Lance’s attention was already taken by another. Keith sees the way that Lance’s eyes light up whenever Shiro and Adam’s team are there to grade them because Lance is usually staring at Matt Holt. It might have stemmed from the fact that Matt is the best comm. Spec at the Garrison so far and it would make sense that with Lance being up and coming talent, he would look to the current number one slot of inspiration. It just sucks for Keith that that number one slot was also very attractive in the eyes of Lance.

“SSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” shouts Keith as he barges into the empty staff lounge and into Shiro for a hug.

“What happened?” ask Shiro curiously.

“Lance turned me down,” he whines to the older guy.

“What?!”

“I asked him if he wanted to go see a movie with me but he said no!!!”

“Okay,” says Shiro as he pushes Keith back a bit and sits him down on the couch beside him. “Let’s start from the beginning and tell me exactly what happened.”

He takes a deep breath. “So I finally decided to ask Lance out on a date since there’s this scary movie that’s coming out pretty soon and he said he wasn’t sure.”

* * *

“He wasn’t sure if he wanted to go to the movies with you?” asks Shiro.

“Not that,” mumbles Keith.

“Was he not sure about the type of movie?” Shiro for one would definitely be not sure about going to see a scary movie with anybody. They were not his thing but then again…if he could get Adam to go with him, then they can be mutually scared into each other’s arms during it.

Damn. His little brother has more game than he does.

Keith shakes his head. “No,” replies Keith, “he said he wasn’t sure if he could go because of Adam’s schedule.”

“Adam’s…schedule?” That didn’t make any sense to Shiro. Why did Adam’s schedule matter to Lance?

Keith nods. “I told him that I could pick him up on my hoverbike if it was a problem but Lance said that Adam wouldn’t like that so he had to check with Adam.”

As Shiro thinks about it, it did make sense that Adam does not trust Lance to ride with Keith. After all, Shiro is working with Keith on his hoverbike riding and Adam knows how many risks Shiro likes to take while riding hoverbikes. Adam probably thinks that Keith rides the same way that he does and he is not wrong about that.

But great, Keith’s lack of a date was his fault now. Keith did not need to know that it was indirectly his fault that he cannot go out on a movie date with Lance because of him. Now as a result, he has to make it up to Keith and that also means that he has to suck it up and deal with that fear of Adam and horror movies.

* * *

Adam sighs and he pinches the bridge of his nose. “So you and Keith want to go to the movies with me and Lance?”

He received a text earlier from Lance about Keith asking if he could see a horror movie with him. Lance also mentioned that if Adam could not take him then Keith could pick him up on his hoverbike and Adam was about to respond with a hard “No” when Shiro entered his empty classroom and propositioned him with a date. Not that he did not want a date with Shiro, on normal circumstance, Adam would be jumping for joy but the fact that it took Keith asking Lance out for Shiro to finally get the balls to ask him out before Adam finally conceded to asking Shiro out was a bit of a let down.

Shiro nods with a flirtatious smile. “Yup!”

_‘Oh my god, why do I love this moron?’_

“So it’s a double date?”

“Are you saying no?”

“Is Keith aware that Lance is unaware?” asks Adam tiredly.

Shiro shrugs his shoulders. “Not sure really but come on, that new Hell Fest movie looks fantastic.”

 _‘Lies.’_ Adam knows for sure that Shiro is terrified of scary movies just as much as he’s terrified with whatever is at the bottom of the ocean because humans know more about space than what is there. Going on a date with Shiro sounded like a great idea in all honesty but for him to agree to this would be agreeing for Lance to go out with Keith. Adam is still not too fond of Shiro’s charge being around his younger brother. But he has to admit, this would probably be the easiest way to get Shiro into his arms while keeping an eye on the younger boys and making sure that Keith did not try anything funny with Lance.

“Sure,” replies Adam finally as he smiles over at Shiro. “We’ll agree to this.”

* * *

Adam agreed.

Adam actually agreed to a date with him.

ADAM SAID YES!!!!

He was out of the room faster than he could even mentally process everything and racing over to the lab where he knew Matt was helping his father out with an experiment. He is bolting down the halls and ignoring every call and shout at him to slow down because this is just way too important to pass up now. He quickly opens the door to the lab as soon as he spots Matt standing at a work bench with goggles on.

“MATT! HE SAID YES!”

He is quickly met with a pair of goggles smacking him in the face.

“SHIRO! LAB SAFETY!”

Once Shiro regains his bearings on reality and the fact that a pair of safety goggles smacked him in the face, he quickly puts them on and goes to sit in one of the rolling chairs at an empty work bench across from where Matt was working.

“Sorry about that Matt,” chuckles Shiro. “But I’m so excited! He actually said yes.”

“Pfft” Matt looks up from his experiment notes and at Shiro. “Of course he did! Adam’s had a crush on you the size of Jupiter.”

Wait. What??!

“What do you mean?!”

Matt chuckles. “I mean, it’s pretty obvious Shiro.”

“Matt, you’re a comm. Spec. and a scientist,” he deadpans. “Things that are obvious to you are sometimes not as obvious to everybody else.”

“Whatever,” Matt rolls his eyes at that, “Anyways, so when’s the big day?”

“Friday night,” replies Shiro with a huge smile.

Matt grins back at him. “It only took you forever and a day to ask Adam out finally. I was starting to wonder if he was going to make the first move with how slow you were going.”

“MMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT,” whines Shiro, “Stop it!”

Matt just continues to laugh at his misery while Shiro allows his mind to wander. Friday night gets there faster than he thought and next thing he knows, he’s getting dressed in his apartment with Keith. He decided to go with a simple black t-shirt, tan colored pants, and his leather jacket. His riding goggles are around his neck for the trip and his fingerless gloves are already on. When he finishes dressing he goes out to the living room to see Keith sitting on the couch in a black t-shirt, black pants, and his red jacket on while playing with the keys to his hoverbike. Keith’s riding goggles are on top of his head.

“Oh no,” says Shiro as he walks over and snatches Keith’s keys mid toss, “You’re riding with me today.”

“Oh come on,” groans Keith as he tries to get his keys back from Shiro, “I’ll be good!”

“Yeah but Adam won’t be cool with this if he sees you riding around,” replies Shiro as Keith gets up to follow him. “Besides, it’ll be more environmentally friendly if you ride with me anyways.”

“Fiiiinnne,” groans Keith as he trails after Shiro.

The ride to the movie theater is only about ten minutes but they arrive just in time to see Adam and Lance dismounting from Adam’s own hoverbike.

“Ah-Damn…,” comments Shiro followed by a low whistle as he parks beside them. Adam wore a white t-shirt beneath a nicely fitting blue hoodie and dark washed blue jeans. He looked good and Shiro finds himself wishing that the Garrison had casual days.

“Eyes up here Shiro,” says Adam with a teasing smirk as he adjusts his glasses over those rich chocolate colored eyes. “And you don’t look too bad yourself.”

* * *

Apparently Matt had been nice enough to get them tickets to the movie but that left refreshments to them. He and Shiro decided to split a large popcorn as did Keith and Lance but there was a small argument over who paid what.

“I’m just saying,” says Shiro as Adam smacked his hand away from the card reader. “I asked you, so I’ll pay.”

“But I’d rather I pay,” he argues as Shiro smacks his hand away.

Neither say a word and are locked in a wordless staring competition.

“Adam Westphalia.”

“Takashi Shirogane.”

“I’m your commanding officer.”

“We’re the same rank, idiot.”

“I’m team captain,” retorts Shiro as he tries to maneuver around Adam, “just let me pay!”

“Not on my pride!” argues Adam as he goes to block Shiro.

“What are you two still doing?” Adam looks up to see Keith and Lance standing off to the side and watching them with mild amusement while sipping sodas and snacking on a large popcorn.

“How?” begins Adam before he hears Shiro let out a triumphant “Hah!” in the background. Darn, he was so close!

Lance jerks his thumb to Keith. “Keith paid and wouldn’t let me argue.”

“And that’s how the we get it done in the Shirogane household,” laughs Shiro triumphantly as he hands Adam is soda, “Now work Keith.”

Adam watches as Keith rolls his eyes to Shiro and he decides to take that as a small victory on his part as the group begins to make their way over to the particular cinema. Not to anyone’s surprise, it is a full house and the two groups end up having to sit apart from each other. While he and Shiro are at the end of the back row while Lance and Keith are about two rows down from then.

In all honesty, Adam is bored during the entire movie and finds the popcorn far more interesting than the gut fest happening on the screen. He really does not understand why people are: A) scared of these movies or B) like them. The plot – in his opinion – is lack luster and all the characters, with the exception of one and unfortunately they were killed off towards the middle, were just lacking in any depth. He looks down to Keith and Lance and just as he thought, the two boys were trapped in a tight embrace of fear as they tried to shield each other’s eyes from the “horrors” happening on screen.  During a bright flash of light, Adam quickly takes out his phone and takes a picture of the two boys being frightened. He cannot wait to show this to them after the movie.

During the next chase sequence, Adam soon finds himself with his left arm trapped in Shiro’s death grip as his fellow pilot stared up at the screen in horror. An old memory from their cadet days soon comes back to mind and he remembers that Shiro is terrified of horror movies. Adam cannot help but chuckle lightly before reaching and arm over and wrapping it around Shiro and pulling him towards his chest.

“Hey,” he whispers under the screams of the characters. “It’s okay; just look away if you get scared. I’m here.”

Adam finds himself spending the rest of the movie sipping his soda while cradling Shiro in his arms as he watches the overall lacking movie. At least he got to have Shiro in his arms.

* * *

When they walk out of the theatre, he and Lance are hand in hand. Lance and Adam are having a playful argument over if the movie was awesome or if it was an overall disappointment. Keith cannot help but notice that Shiro is also holding hands with Adam during this walk and softly laughing as the two debated the merits of one of the character’s deaths.

“I’m just saying,” says Adam, “that Bex was the most developed character and that they did not deserve to die.”

“And Jeremy did?”

“No, he was the second most developed character.”

“Alright you two,” chuckles Shiro, “how about we finish off tonight with someone a little more…cheerful?”

Keith gives Shiro a teasing look. “How about Froyo and Ice cream?”

Keith watches as Shiro thinks about it for a second before smiling over at his younger brother and nodding. Keith cheers inwardly at this and Lance looks just as excited. He goes to check Adam’s expression and it looks like the other pilot also approves of this idea. He watches as Adam smiles over at Shiro.

“You do need something to calm your nerves after all that,” chuckles Adam.

“Okay,” says Shiro as he looks at Adam in surprise. “How were you not scared during that movie?”

“Simple. Because I was bored and had something more entertaining in my arms,” says Adam with a small smirk pulling at his lips.

They make their way out into the warm starry night and over to where the two hoverbikes are parked beside each other. Adam starts to make his way over to his when Shiro pulls him back.

“How about you ride with me?” suggests Shiro.

“But Shiro,” begins Adam and soon Keith catches on to the plan.

Shiro offers Adam a charming smile. “Keith is perfectly capable of safely driving a hoverbike to the ice cream shop, trust me. I taught him and I would prefer if you rode with me for at least this leg.”

Keith looks between Adam and Shiro as Adam seemed to be unsure of the idea for a second before tossing his keys at Keith. He almost drops them but luckily they fall into his palms in just the nick of time as Adam walks over to Shiro’s bike.

“Though I’m still not sure about this,” comments Adam as he swung his leg over the seat of Shiro’s hoverbike behind Shiro. “Think you can handle it, Kogane?”

“Relax,” chuckles Shiro as he looks over his shoulder at Adam. “Keith and I routinely go riding together and he’s gotten pretty good.”

“I promise not to hurt Lance, Officer Westphalia,” replies Keith as calmly as he could as he made his way over to Adam’s bike where Lance was standing.

Keith watches as Adam sighs as his face falls into his older brother’s back. “I knew I should have taught Lance how to ride. Kid knows how to drive but not how to ride. I’ve failed as a brother.”

Keith can hear Shiro chuckling at Adam’s comment as he climbs on to Adam’s bike with Lance right behind him. He sticks the keys into the ignition and turns the bike on before looking over at Shiro. Shiro quickly gestures for him to follow behind them as they begin to pull away. Though the ride is a short one lasting about five minutes, Keith is elated the whole way there due to Lance having his arms wrapped around his waist and head pressed against his shoulder. Sure they were practically cuddling with each other during the entire movie in fear but this was just different. Keith liked this and wanted things to stay like this.

* * *

When they arrive at the ice cream shop, Keith is quick to park the bike and hand the keys back to Adam before leading him inside. He follows after his team’s fighter pilot as they begin to fill their cups with frozen yogurt while Shiro and Adam are looking over the different ice cream flavors. Once again Keith beats him to the bill and pays for both of them before leading him over to a window seat.

“You know that I can pay for myself right?” asks Lance as he takes a bite of his own blue raspberry yogurt.

“I know but I asked you,” replies Keith with what Lance can only describe as a flirty smile. Seeing that makes Lance’s heart start to beak a little faster, “and it would be wrong for me to let you pay since I asked you.”

“Okay,” sighs Lance as they look out at the stars and moon. “You know, Keith?”

“Hmm?” Keith looks over at him with a spoon sticking out of his mouth.

Lance giggles at the sight. “Tonight’s been pretty great, thank you.”

Keith removes the spoon from his mouth and gives Lance a soft look. A smile was on his face and his eyes are the gentlest Lance has ever seen them. He cannot help but see the storm start to calm in Keith’s normally tumultuous blue-grey eyes.

“Do you mind?” asks Keith softly as he places a hand on Lance’s cheek.

“Hmm?”

The gentle feeling of Keith’s lips against his cheek soothe every frazzle nerve in his body as his brain finally empties of all thoughts. Yes, this night couldn’t have been anymore perfect.

* * *

“Aren’t they cute,” chuckles Shiro as they watched from their spot at counter.

He shakes his head with a smile on his face. “I guess that’s one way to describe them.”

He goes back to picking at his brownie fudge sundae while Shiro is more amused by his strawberry sundae. Adam cannot believe that he’s never been to this shop before but he knows for a fact that he will definitely be back. The ice cream is just delicious and apparently they made everything in house as well. They are quick to finish up their frozen treats before making their way out to the hoverbikes once more to say goodbye. Lance is already standing beside his while looks like he might try fighting Shiro for the driver’s seat.

“Did you have fun tonight?” asks Shiro.

Adam nods. “I did, thank you for a lovely evening Shiro.”

“Takashi.” Adam looks at Shiro in surprise upon hearing that but the look on Shiro’s face is enough explanation for him. Shiro’s grey eyes are as welcoming and warm as a blanket in the middle of winter and his smile makes Adam never want to part from him. “We’ve known each other for years and I’ve admired you for just as long. So please, just call me Takashi.”

Shiro is Japanese. That had been one of the first things he learned about Shiro when they first met as cadets at the Garrison. He had once asked why Shiro went by Shiro and not by his first name and that was when it was just a part of his culture. First names were rarely ever used outside of family, close friends, or lovers. There had to be a certain degree of intimacy before a first name could be used. So for Shiro or rather _Takashi_ to give him permission to call him _Takashi_ it was an honor.

So Adam in a mix of his own emotions wraps his arms around Takashi’s neck and pulls the other man closer so that their lips can finally meet. It is something that _he’s_ wanted to do ever since he met Shiro as a first year cadet.

“That too you long enough, shooting star,” teases Takashi as they gently break from the kiss.

“You aren’t just a star to me,” chuckles Adam as he presses his forehead against Shiro’s, “You’re the whole damn sky.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everybody!  
> Thank you so much for reading this. This was written before season 7 was released and oh my was that a wild ride. WyrdWeaver and I enjoyed it overall though there were points that we can agree that could have been handled differently. But hey those MFE pilots! I personally love Rizavi (SO MUCH RELATING) and James while she favours Leifsdottir. But we both agree on Kosmo being the best Good Boy. 
> 
> Yeah...Adam's last name.... So here's what happened! Season 7 said his name was Adam W. Originally this was written with a different last name that didn't start with a W. During this time, grad school has started up for me and WyrdWeaver again and in our 1989 course the Treaty of Westphalia was mentioned while I was looking up a periodic table for reasons. It was coinflip between Westphalia and Wolfram. We are nerds and fully acknowledge that. 
> 
> As always, a kudos is always much appreciated as well as a comment! We hope that you enjoyed it!


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